Exploring positive team leadership in Finnish ECEC: insights from the team leadership questionnaire and PRIDE

Teachers in Finnish early childhood education and care (ECEC) are recognised as pedagogical experts within their teams. While interest in teachers’ leadership roles has grown, the concept of team leadership in ECEC remains underexplored, despite teachers’ leadership being recognised as significant to ensuring teams’ well-functioning and high-quality ECEC. This study examines teachers’ team leadership through the lens of positive leadership. The study addresses two research questions: (1) What factors constitute positive team leadership based on the Team Leadership Questionnaire (TLQ), and to what extent are these factors interrelated? (2) What differences in positive team leadership based on the TLQ can be identified using demographic groups? The data consist of responses from 1,221 ECEC teachers working in teams, collected through discretionary sampling from 66 municipalities in Finland in 2022. The data were analysed using the Jamovi program and structural equation modelling. The findings indicate that positive team leadership, as measured by the TLQ, comprises five key factors: shared goals, helping and problem-solving, encouraging self-leadership, solving conflicts, and developing team activities. The study highlights the practical orientation of team leadership: team leaders advance development primarily through hands-on support and problem-solving, rather than relying solely on goal setting or conflict management.